• Sonar Case Could Threaten Ocean Protections
  
• Report Highlights Offenses at Factory Farms
  
• Pedro Sanchez Wins World Food Prize
  
• Easement Protects Boston Harbor Island
  
• Washington Helps Dairy Farmers Become Mercury Free
  
• California Condors Return to Mexico After 60 Years
  
• DNA Offers Clues to Battle Invasive Trees
  
• Four Fish Species to be Reintroduced in Tennessee
  

Sonar Case Could Threaten Ocean Protections

The 1969 NEPA law requires that all federal actions be analyzed for their effects on the environment. But in a precedent setting case, the Justice Department maintains that federal activity beyond U.S. territorial waters, which extend three miles offshore, is not subject to NEPA.

The case involves the Navy's Littoral Warfare Advanced Development (LWAD) sonar systems, which critics charge could pose a threat to whales, dolphins, seals and other marine mammals. LWAD relates to the use of intense sound to destroy enemy troops as they move across beach, or littoral, regions.

A coalition of environmental groups has filed suit to block federal approval of the sonar systems, charging that the Navy has not performed the environmental studies required under NEPA.

The coalition, led by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), filed the lawsuit in federal district court in Los Angeles based on studies showing that active sonar systems can cause tissue damage and disorientation in marine mammals. A March 2000 incident in which dozens of whales stranded and died in the Bahamas has been blamed on testing of the LWAD systems.

The Justice Department is now arguing that NEPA applies only to U.S. territorial lands and waters. If that argument becomes official policy, it would eliminate some federal environmental oversight of activities within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) - the ocean area extending out to 200 miles from shore - and in international waters.

In the past, many federal agencies have performed environmental studies regarding their activities within the EEZ. And in 1993, a federal appeals court ruled that NEPA should be applied to U.S. plans to incinerate wastes in Antarctica.

Environmental groups fear that a federal win in this case could leave the high seas vulnerable to harmful activities, such as commercial fishing and energy exploration.

The Justice Department says the seas would still be protected under a 1979 executive order signed by President Jimmy Carter, which requires environmental assessments of federal activities conducted outside U.S. territorial lands and waters. However, that executive order does not allow for public input and participation, and would not permit lawsuits like the one challenging the Navy sonar system.

Last week, the White House Council on Environmental Quality held a meeting to discuss the potential implications of the case. The Council will not discuss the meeting, as it concerns ongoing litigation, but additional meetings on NEPA are planned for next month.

Report Highlights Offenses at Factory Farms

The report, released weeks after the second largest beef recall in history, documents convictions at corporate animal factories for animal cruelty, bribery, records destruction, fraud, worker endangerment, and pollution violations.

The report, "The RapSheet on Animal Factories," is available online, along with a searchable database showing problems in each state. The Sierra Club says the "RapSheet on Animal Factories" represents the largest and most complete documentation of violations by large animal factories in the United States ever produced.

"Environmental violations by the meat industry add up to a rap sheet longer than 'War and Peace'," said Ed Hopkins, director of the Sierra Club's Environmental Quality Program. "Unfortunately, unsafe working conditions, recalls, massive pollution, inhumane treatment of animals and other violations have become a common feature of industrial livestock production."

The RapSheet documents 60 misdemeanor or felony charges against 50 companies and their managers, 43 public health recalls that total about 67,000 tons of meat, hundreds of manure spills, and more than $50 million in criminal fines. The RapSheet report highlights violations committed by ten of "America's Least Wanted Animal Factories."

Among the violations exposed in the report is a case in which a Cargill Pork factory in Missouri violated the Clean Water Act by dumping hog waste into the Loutre River, killing about 53,000 fish along a five mile stretch of river. In another case, a Smithfield Foods factory in Virginia was fined $12.6 million for dumping slaughterhouse wastes into a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay.

In Ohio, the Buckeye Egg factories disposed of dead chickens by dumping them in a nearby field, and violated their clean water permits more than 800 times.

While the RapSheet report focuses on the largest offenders, the online database profiles more than 240 industrial meat factories that have violated public health and environmental protections. More than 20 percent of the companies profiled in detail have been hit with criminal charges or convictions.

Despite repeated violations of environmental and public health laws, many of the companies highlighted in the RapSheets continue to receive millions of dollars every year from the School Lunch Program and other federal food assistance programs.

"Large scale corporate animal factories pollute our air and water, endanger our health and drive responsible family farmers out of business," said Hopkins. "This report illustrates that factory farms are more factory than farm, and should be held to the same environmental standards as any other industry."

The RapSheet on Animal Factories and the searchable database are available at: http://www.sierraclub.org/factoryfarms/rapsheets

Pedro Sanchez Wins World Food Prize

Sanchez, who was born in Havana in 1940 and now teaches at the University of California, won the honor for helping to reduce hunger and malnutrition throughout the developing world.

Pedro Sanchez (Photo courtesy United Nations)

The foundation said Sanchez is also being honored for having played a "critical role in establishing real alternatives to slash and burn farming, which has destroyed millions of hectares of rainforest."

In addition, the foundation said Sanchez led international efforts to establish agro-forestry "as a means of mitigating global warning, by removing millions of tons of [carbon dioxide] from the air."

"As this award is being presented in the 100th year of Cuban independence, Cubans everywhere have occasion to express great pride," in Sanchez's accomplishments, said foundation president Kenneth Quinn.

Sanchez helped Peru to improve its national food security, achieving self sufficiency in rice production within three years, and helping that country achieve among the highest rice yields in the world. Through his research in the Cerrado of Brazil, Sanchez developed ways to revitalize tropical soils that had been considered unproductive, expanding that country's agricultural output.

In East Africa, where Sanchez served as Director General of the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry, he managed to restore nutrients to depleted soils, resulting in dramatic increases in crop yields that aided hundreds of thousands of small farmers.

United Nations (UN) Secretary General Kofi Annan has selected Sanchez to chair a special task force on hunger as part of the UN Millennium Development project, which is involved with tackling global problems of poverty, education, promoting democracy, and protecting human rights.

"It is clear that Dr. Pedro Sanchez's achievements offer great promise that the Green Revolution can be spread through sub-Saharan Africa," said Annan.

Annan added that it was particularly fitting that the World Food Prize will be presented to Dr. Sanchez on October 24, United Nations Day.

"Nothing could better reflect the direct connection between Dr. Sanchez's accomplishments and his new mission on behalf of the Millennium Project of the United Nations," he said.

Easement Protects Boston Harbor Island

The 240 acre island has been one of the state's conservation priorities for more than 20 years. It includes a salt marsh, meadows, beaches, woods and hills, along with a 60 foot climbing tower, challenge courses, athletic fields, and a school campus, run by Outward Bound, which provides educational programs for youth and corporate groups.

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) helped negotiate the conservation easement between the non-profit Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center, the National Park Service and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management (DEM). The easement, for which the federal and state agencies paid $4 million, bars development on 80 percent of the island, limits future development on the campus and guarantees public access to the island.

"It's a win win win situation," said George Armstrong, president of the Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center, which serves about 5,000 youth each year through hands on educational programs designed to help students develop self confidence, conflict resolution skills, and compassion.

"Young people will continue to enjoy and learn in this unique environment; the government agencies have succeeded in conserving an incredible resource; and more visitors will visit our shores," Armstrong explained.

Two million dollars in state funding was secured through the 1996 Massachusetts Open Space Bond Bill for half the cost of the conservation agreement. The state's congressional delegation obtained $2 million from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund for the purchase in 1999.

"This project completes the permanent protection of all of the Boston Harbor Islands," said Massachusetts secretary of environmental affairs Robert Durand. "This marks the final puzzle piece needed to ensure the overall conservation of these historic and natural resources."

Thompson Island is the fourth largest island in Boston Harbor. It is the closest major island to the mainland and is also one of the most pristine islands in the harbor.

The island was first occupied by Native Americans as early as 6,0000 to 8,000 BC. The first colonial settlement was in 1626, when a trader named David Thompson established an outpost for trading with the Neponset Indians.

In the 1830s, Boston philanthropists purchased the island for $6,000 and founded a school for orphaned boys. It was the first vocational school in the country, featuring a print shop, a woodworking shop and a farm, and the very first school band in America.

Boston's 34 harbor islands, designated a national park area in 1996, provide a unique natural and recreational asset.

"The permanent conservation of Thompson Island is the crowning achievement in the decades long effort to clean up the harbor and return it to the people of Boston," said Whitney Hatch, regional director for TPL. "With the area's last privately owned island now protected, the Harbor Islands National Park is complete."

Washington Helps Dairy Farmers Become Mercury Free

The cleanups are the result of a partnership between dairy farmers and state and local agencies.

Two years ago, the state Department of Agriculture, the Washington State University cooperative extension, Yakima County's household and small business waste collection facility and the Department of Ecology joined forces to help dairy farmers replace mercury vacuum gauges with mercury free digital gauges. The gauges are used to monitor the vacuum level within the automated milking systems at the dairies.

The multi-agency team promoted the program, coordinated research into effective alternatives for the dairy farmers, established a rebate system that helped offset the cost and installation of mercury free gauges, and arranged for the old mercury gauge to be removed.

"This project has been very satisfying because the groups worked so effectively to remove a large quantity of a toxic and persistent chemical that has the potential of leaking to the environment," said Holly Cushman of Ecology's hazardous waste program in Yakima. "The effort would not have been a success if the farmers hadn't responded so well."

The goal was to remove 83 mercury gauges. After two years, available funds allowed 122 mercury gauges to be removed from dairy farms in 18 counties by the grant's June 30 deadline.

Mercury is one of a number of high risk contaminants that are being targeted by Washington state to reduce their presence in the environment. Spilled mercury can evaporate at room temperature and be inhaled, causing serious health problems in humans, fish and wildlife. Short term mercury exposure symptoms include nausea, shortness of breath and bronchitis.

"I have to credit the dairy farmers because, even though many were not aware that the mercury gauges had the potential of leaking toxic material into the environment, they quickly responded to our education efforts," said Cushman.

California Condors Return to Mexico After 60 Years

Of the six, five are juveniles and are scheduled to be released this fall after a period of several weeks in an acclimation pen. The sixth condor is an adult female that is accompanying the juveniles as a mentor bird. She will return to the Los Angeles Zoo following the release.

All six were reared at the Los Angeles Zoo and were hatched at the zoo and the Peregrine Fund's World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho. Their arrival marks the first appearance of California condors in Mexico in six decades.

"Day after day we hear about species that are endangered or become extinct. Very few times do we receive news of a recuperation and conservation effort," said Dr. Exequiel Ezcurra, president of Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Ecología. "This is why this day gives us reason to rejoice - 60 years have passed without condors in Mexico, and today we will see these birds open their wings where their ancestors once did."

The condors are part of a recovery program for the species involving the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (UFSWS), the Zoological Society of San Diego, the Los Angeles Zoo, the California Department of Fish and Game, and numerous Mexican partners. The condors that are reintroduced to Mexico may one day meet up with condors in California to form a single population.

"This is a very important step for the recovery program," said Steve Thompson, manager of the USFWS California-Nevada Operations Office. "This is a truly binational endangered species program. "With the combined efforts of partners in the U.S. and Mexico we may have the chance of seeing California condors flying the mountains from Baja into California sometime in the not too distant future."

The goal of the California Condor Recovery Program is to establish two geographically separate populations, one in California and the other in Arizona, each with 150 birds and at least 15 breeding pairs.

There are 76 condors now living in the wild in California and Arizona, 16 in field pens ready for release, and 116 in captivity at the Los Angeles Zoo, San Diego Wild Animal Park and the Peregrine Fund's World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho.

The Mexican release area is located in the Sierra de San Pedro Martir National Park in northern Baja. The release project will include an outreach program that will work with local communities and ranches to educate and inform them about condor reintroduction efforts.

"The Sierra San Pedro de Martir is a magnificent high altitude range covered in old growth pine and fir for roosts, and with extensive cliffs with caves for nesting," said Mike Wallace, wildlife specialist with the Zoological Society of San Diego. "With large populations of deer, bighorn and cattle, these birds should thrive there."

DNA Offers Clues to Battle Invasive Trees

Earlier Department of Agriculture studies show that an Arizona Tamarix, commonly known as tamarisk or saltcedar, will not be eaten by certain Asian insects known to like saltcedars. These insects prefer plants that grow in Texas or New Mexico, showing that there are different kinds of the plants in different areas.

Dr. Barbara Schaal, a Washington University professor of biology, has shown that two of the introduced species of Tamarix have interbred to create a hybrid that may be resistant to biological control agents now being developed.

Tamarix is the one of the worst invasive plant in the United States, second only to purple loosestrife, a big problem in northern areas. Invasive plants are second only to habitat loss in contributing to loss of biodiversity.

Saltcedars, first introduced to the United States in the 1800s for shade and erosion control, have since invaded the arid southwest and are contributing to the drying up of creeks and streams in that water threatened area. More than a million acres are now infested with saltcedar along streams and riverbeds.

The salt cedars' long taproots suck up salty ground water and drop salt crusted leaves on the soil surface. This makes it almost impossible for native plants to take root. The loss of native plants also decreases the insect and bird biodiversity.

Schaal's graduate student John Gaskin has used DNA sequences to identify which species are here and to document hybridization. Their DNA analyses also help them pinpoint where the plants may have originated in Eurasia.

So far Schaal and Gaskin have found that the most common invasive here is a hybrid of two species that do not grow in the same areas of Asia, forming a novel plant genotype. These results will help federal researchers determine which insects they could import to help control the invasion.

Schaal and Gaskin caution that any novel hybrid plants may prove to be unpalatable to species specific insects, since they did not evolve with them. Their results appear in this week's issue of the journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."

More information on Tamarix is available at: http://www.invasivespecies.gov/profiles/saltcedar.shtml

Four Fish Species to be Reintroduced in Tennessee

"By reintroducing experimental populations of these species into their former habitat, along with other recovery efforts, the Service and its partners hope to improve the status of these fish to the point where they no longer need Endangered Species Act protection," said Sam Hamilton, USFWS southeast regional director. "We have already had some success reintroducing all four of these fish species into Abrams Creek in Blount County, Tennessee."

Although there are no confirmed historical records, biologists believe the four species - the endangered duskytail darter, the endangered smoky madtom, the threatened yellowfin madtom, and the threatened spotfin chub - inhabited the Tellico River in the past.

The Tellico River is a Little Tennessee River tributary just downstream from the mouths of Abrams and Citico Creeks, and all four fishes were found in these creeks. Before the construction of reservoirs on the main stem of the Little Tennessee River, no physical barriers prevented the movement of these fish between Abrams Creek, Citico Creek and the Tellico River.

The reintroduction is part of a major initiative by federal and state agencies and private conservation groups to restore and recover native species in the Tennessee River system. Since the mid-1980's, Conservation Fisheries, Inc., a nonprofit fish conservation organization, has been reintroducing these four species into Abrams Creek with support from the USFWS, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, Tennessee Valley Authority, and Tennessee Aquarium.

Conservation Fisheries, Inc, has confirmed that about 10 miles of the Tellico River, above the backwaters of the Tellico Reservoir, have areas of suitable habitat for the reintroduction of all four fishes.

The reintroduced species will be classified as non-essential experimental populations under the Endangered Species Act, ensuring that anyone killing or harming the fish as a result of otherwise lawful activities would not be in violation of the law.

"Substantial regulatory relief is provided through nonessential, experimental population designations. We do not believe that the reintroduction of these four species will conflict with any existing or proposed human activities or hinder public use of the Tellico River or its watershed," said Hamilton.